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Scott Walker JobsTracker Still Stuck on Zero

Posted October 5, 2010

Failed County Executive's Credibility Dipping Deeper Into Red

MADISON- Way back in February, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin began the Scott Walker JobsTracker, and now, as election day nears, the meter still is stuck on zero, with absolutely zero jobs successes for the failed Milwaukee County Executive, who cursed bringing jobs to Wisconsin as, "Putting lipstick on a pig."

In the meantime, Walker has spun a fabulist's web of lies about his job creation, mocking the unemployed by creating a 68-point bogus plan that was made to look longer than it is by using the same tactics of a lazy 7th Grader.

And on the stump, Walker has been spinning other tales, claiming he could create 250,000 jobs when he hasn't created one. But not only has Walker not created jobs, he's claimed the work of others, including

jobs at Wauwautosa's G.E. Medical Center that he actively worked to kill-before other adults came in to save the project.

And during all this time, Walker has failed to appoint anyone to Milwaukee County's economic development division, which he previously had worked to extinguish, until after local lawmakers brought pressure to reverse his craven neglect.

In the same period that Scott Walker was claiming that government could do nothing to attract and preserve jobs, Mayor Tom Barrett did exactly that, working in public-private partnerships to create conditions that attracted some 2,000 jobs to Wisconsin, including several high-tech manufacturing jobs to an area that had formerly been blighted.

The DPW was reintroducing the Scott Walker JobsTrackeras a way to remind the public of Walker's hostility toward and ignorance about jobs creation, coupled with his willingness to say anything about his phony jobs record to get elected.

"Scott Walker has worked actively against jobs programs and has run away from any leadership role in helping the private sector create jobs in his own back yard," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Thursday. "That's why the Scott Walker JobsTrackeris likely to permanently remain stuck on zero."

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Walker's Record on Jobs Creation Scott Walker doesn't have a plan for Wisconsin. In fact, he has stood in the way of job creation programs and refused to build partnerships that bring jobs to Wisconsin:

He mocked Milwaukee 7, the group responsible for bringing Republic Airways and Ingeteam to Wisconsin, as "lipstick on a pig"

Walker led the push against investments in high-speed rail that even by conservative estimates would create thousands of jobs in Wisconsin.

Scott Walker continues to criticize the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which has created or saved an estimated 44,000 jobs in the state (click here for Walker's full ARRA timeline).

In 2009, his budget dissolved the Economic and Community Development Division and eliminated the Economic Development Director position. This has cost the county millions in federal aid.

Walker chose previous campaign staffers with insufficient qualifications to lead economic development efforts. A specific example of this came in October 2008 when only $226,000 of the $7.2 budgeted land sales revenue actually had materialized.

In 2009, he even turned down a $3.1 million gift to be used for economic development and job creation

Created a 68-page joke job plan, making fun of an issue that effects so many of Wisconsin’s hard working families

For example, GE Healthcare: "The county executive was never at the table negotiating this," former Wauwatosa Mayor Theresa M. Estness said, adding "there was never anyone from the county involved when we were negotiating with GE."

For the Milwaukee County Airport: "It has nothing to do with county government," (aviation consultant Michael Boyd, of Boyd Group International Boyd) said. "It has to do with airline economics." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/20/10 and Politifact, 9/14/10)